Story: An Agreeable Arrangement
Main Characters: Draco/OC Samantha Black
Pairings: Harry/OC Katherine Black, Hermione/Ron, & Ginny/Blaise
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's Sam and Katherine
It was two weeks before Christmas and Draco was in full operation win Samantha back. Not that he ever lost her, but…never mind.
He was on a secret mission, so secret he wasn't completely aware of what he was doing.
He found himself in a constant battle against his childhood teachings.
"Love is a weakness to be exploited."
"To get to the top you have to take care of one person, yourself."
He rationalized that he was stuck with Samantha whether he was in love with her or not, so why not make the best of it. The most sensible thing to do would be to make Samantha happy so he would be happy.
That was what he told himself as he stood in the jewelry store staring down at the display case.
That's when he felt the pulling at his leg, "Drake, after this can we go get ice cream?"
"Of course we can mate. But listen, I need you to promise me something, you can't tell anyone that we came here." Draco explained bending down to Teds height.
"Why not?"
"Well, it's a secret." Draco said standing back up to greet the jeweler.
"Mr. Malfoy, as per your specifications."
"But Drake! Why is it a secret? Who is it a secret from?"
"Thank you. You know my Grigotts account." Draco took the box and opened it when he felt more pulling on his pant leg.
"What is it Drake? I want to see!" Ted said impatiently truly showing his age with his pout.
Draco chuckled bending down to show the five-year-old.
"That's pretty! Is it for Sami?"
Draco nodded, "That's why you can't say anything. It's a surprise. Do you think she'll like it?"
He nodded, "I think she'd like a puppy more but it's nice." He gave a shrug and Draco chuckled again.
"You think Samantha wants a puppy or do you want a puppy?"
"I'm just saying. I might accidentally tell Sami what we did today. A puppy would make me forget all about that."
Draco gave him a look and he just shrugged. "What, I'm only five."
"You're a little con man is what you are. Shall we get ice cream?"
"Ice cream's good. You know what I'd want more?"
Draco rolled his eyes, "I do. Now let's go."
"Where is my favorite man?" Sam yelled from the foyer. Dropping her bad and slipping out of her ballet flats before removing her coat.
Draco walked in and gave her a grin as a barreling little boy ran past him.
"Here I am Sami!" Ted yelled running into her open arms so she could scoop him up!
"Yes you are! How was school?"
Ted had started going to a little school in Diagon Alley a couple days a week to be with kids his own age. And to learn stuff, Sam supposed.
"Good! Miss Lillian said I am her favorite student and Drake got me ice cream!"
"Well it sounds like you had a good day little man! Why don't you go wash your hands and we'll have dinner?"
He nodded and ran out of the room as fast as he came.
Draco watched him go shaking his head. "He's been hyper all day, even before I gave him sugar."
Sam sighed removing her scarf and placing it on the bench. "Thank you for picking him up. Our costume designer had a complete meltdown today and I think I might have to push opening night."
She was exhausted. She honestly thought nothing could be harder than going on tour but she was sorely mistaken.
"I was happy to do it. You look exhausted."
"I am, but so are you. I know you've been super busy with work and I didn't mean to burden you with more stuff."
Draco reached for her putting both hands on her shoulders, "Samantha Black, honestly, I'm Draco Malfoy. I don't do things I don't want to do. I have people for that."
She rolled her eyes, "But still I appreciate it."
He kissed her forehead, "let's eat."
Sam and Draco agreed that they would take the following day off. They both needed a day of rest plus they had Teddy staying with them and didn't want to drag him to work.
"So what's on the agenda?" Draco asked sitting down at the breakfast table and immediately picking up The Prophet and his waiting coffee mug.
"I'm not sure. Ted has informed me he'd like to go to the pet store because you promised to buy him a dog."
Draco choked a little on his coffee, "No, I didn't."
Sam laughed, "I didn't think so but he was very insistent."
Shaking her head she took the seat across from his and helped herself to the fruit bowl Libby put out.
Ted ate a lot for a 5-year-old so Libby was on call for breakfast when he stayed. At the moment she was pretty sure Ted was asking for extra chocolate chips in his pancakes.
On cue Ted skipped out of the kitchen plates of food floating in the air behind him. He pulled out the chair next to Draco, climbed up onto it and clapped his hands in glee as chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream, sausages and bacon landed in front of him.
He grabbed a sausage with his hands and shoved it in his mouth before Sam or Draco could blink.
"Ted, really? Patience is a good thing. Take a breath will ya before you choke on something." Sam said giving the boy an exasperated look.
Ted rolled his eyes but Draco stepped in before he could take another bite.
"It's rude to eat with your hands and you should wait for everyone else to have their food before you eat. Otherwise it's disrespectful. We use manners in this house."
Ted looked at Draco for a second, like he was debating whether he would listen or not. Sam watched very interested to see how the little boy reacted as him and Drake stared at each other.
It's a battle of wills happening in here Sam thought watching the stare off until Ted relented.
"Sorry Sami. Are you ready to eat now?"
"Yes I am, Draco?" Sam asked with a smirk.
They finished breakfast without incident and moved on to their next task, what to do for the day.
"Mrs. Fitz called. She has another house for us to look at." Draco supplied, "She asked if we could check it out around three."
"Do we have to?" Sam asked buttoning up Ted's coat and then doing her own.
"You're the one who insisted we look for 'our' house. I would be perfectly happy to stay here…"
"I don't have an office or enough closet space here."
"I want a play room and backyard." Ted chimed in, "and a Quidditch pitch" he added as an after thought.
"You're not getting a Quidditch pitch Ted."
"Harry said he'd build a Quidditch pitch for me." He looked right at Draco with that one.
"Yeah, well. Our Quidditch pitch is going to be way cooler than Potter's." Drake insisted lifting the little boy up causing him to squeal and giggle.
"Come on, we'll go to Hamley's and lunch before we meet the realtor."
Samantha rolled her eyes, "Really, you need a bigger and better Quidditch pitch?" she asked once they were out the door and preparing to apparate.
"I think you're overcompensating for something Drake." She winked before spinning on the spot to reappear at the apparition point in Piccadilly Circus.
Draco and Teddy appeared moments later. "Darling, I think you and I both know I have nothing to compensate for." He said with a smirk while Ted ran out into the main hustle and bustle of Muggle tourists to see a street performer. Sam and Draco following at a slower pace. Sam slipped her hand into Draco's and kissed his cheek.
"Of course not dear, it's not like he defeated the darkest wizard of all time effectively saving the Wizarding race all before age 18. But really, that's not super significant."
"Fine, but I am far better looking."
They were half way through lunch when Samantha got the call from her director, "What do you mean by disaster?...Well isn't there anything you can do?" She gave Draco an apologetic look while listening to the other end.
"How the hell did this happen?"
"Language Sami" Ted admonished through a mouth full of mashed potatoes.
"Don't talk with your mouth full." She quipped back.
"What now then…Shit!"
"Sami! Don't use bad words."
"Sorry. Okay listen keep them there. No don't let them leave because I am not spending half my day trying to track them down. I'll be there soon."
She hung up the phone with a huff before looking at Draco with the most apologetic face he had ever seen her wear.
"I am soooo sorry I can't even tell you. I know we said no work but there an emergency with the licensing and lawyers are probably going to have to get involved and if I didn't have to go I wouldn't…"
"Samantha go. We'll meet up with you when you are done."
"Thank you Thank you Thank you! Ted I love you, behave and I promise we'll hangout, we'll go to the zoo or see the dinosaurs at the history museum, okay?" The little boy nodded giving her a hug.
She went around and kissed Draco on the cheek, "You owe me."
"I will pay you back in full!" She said already dialing Jack as she rushed off.
"So buddy. Just the guys again."
They ended up stopping by Draco's office for a bit for Draco to sign some paperwork and for Ted to get the chance to charm every one of Draco's five secretaries into giving him candy.
"I thought you weren't coming into the office today?" Blaise questioned from his lounging spot on the office couch.
"I thought you were going to spend the whole day with Samantha sweeping her off her feet in the name of romance."
Draco merely grunted not paying the least amount of attention on Zabini's words.
"Sami had to go to work." Ted supplied from his spot rolling around on the floor. Honestly who thought giving the kid sugar was a good idea?
"Samantha ditched you for work? That doesn't sound like Samantha, that sounds like you Draco my boy."
"There was an emergency." Ted explained, "Drake and I are gonna go buy the new house though. One with a play room and backyard for my Quidditch pitch and puppy."
"You're getting a Quidditch pitch and a puppy! That's very cool mate. You must have done something awesome to get those."
Ted jumped up and down nodding his head. "Drake is cooler than Uncle Harry, that's why I'm getting the Quidditch pitch and I didn't tell Sami about the ring so that's why I'm getting the puppy."
Blaise was chuckling at the better than Potter comment, "Well that's very nice, wait a second, ring?"
The kid was back to rolling on the floor, "mhmm, a really shiny ring for Sami, Drake said it was a surprise though and I wasn't allowed to tell anyone so Shhhh!."
Ted put his finger to his lips while attempting to stand on his head.
"Draco Malfoy, you bought Samantha a ring without telling me?"
At this point Draco did look up at Blaise, "What?" he looked a little bewildered at the sudden outburst.
"You. Bought a ring. For Samantha." Blaise repeated slowly and clearly
Draco looked at his watch, "Ted we have to get going. Grab your jumper and jacket good man."
"Draco Malfoy" Draco looked back at Blaise, "Yes?"
"Answer the damn question."
"Yes, Yes I did."
"And you didn't think this was something you should mention?" he asked as Ted ran out the door to gather his coat.
"I didn't think it needed to be mentioned." He shrugged gathering up his own belongings.
"Didn't think it needed to be mentioned, how do you figure that?"
"Samantha and I, for all legal purposes are already married. You are one of the few people who already knew that and in fact you are the one who drafted up the agreement that we would go through the motions of dating and getting engaged and all the other nonsense we have to do to fool the public. You knew I would be getting a ring eventually."
"You my sad, naïve friend really haven't got a clue do you. If it was just going through the motions fine I wouldn't care. But this thing with Samantha has become more than just about a contract. As your best mate you tell me these things. It's part of our friendship code."
"Friendship code? Is there a secret handshake, do we have matching bracelets?"
"Not anymore, I am returning yours." Blaise said with a huff.
Draco merely rolled his eyes, threw on his jacket and made for the door.
"Where are you going?"
"I have a house to look at."
Blaise grabbed his own coat and followed him out, "Well I am not letting you buy the house without me. Lead on little man." Said following Ted out to the lifts.
Draco rolled his eyes again, this was going to be a long day.
They apparated to the meeting point with the realtor then all made their way to the house in question is was a decent size, bigger than Draco's current townhome but not nearly as large as the manor.
It was modern, Sam would like that.
Not to far from the city, again a plus if Sam were here
It was in a mixed neighborhood with Muggles which Draco was not the biggest fan of but it was far enough back that allowed for seclusion and privacy.
He walked into the foyer and found it to be very much his style, dark wood, high ceilings, spiraling staircase.
A woman, probably in her mid 60s came from one of the side doors to greet them. "This is my business associate, Mrs. Hayze. This is one of her listings."
Draco and Blaise both nodded to the woman.
"This is Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Zabini and of course Teddy." Mrs. Fitz introduced with a smile.
Teddy shook the woman's hand, "How do you do?"
"You are precious aren't you" Mrs. Hayze said with a smile please if you would follow me.
She took them through the house showing them the ins and outs of the different rooms. The more Draco saw of the house the more he liked it.
There was space for two offices, a downstairs kitchen complete with a breakfast bar, Sam always complained about having coffee in the large dining room,
"It's so damn formal. When it's just the two of us I'd like to be within reach of the toaster and coffee machine and I want to sit in my pajama's and fluffy slippers."
There was also a formal dining room, library, three different possible entertainment rooms, a two bedroom guest wing and a three bedroom in the main house next to the master bedroom. Teddy was running around one of said rooms that had a bay window looking over the vast backyard.
"This is my room! It's perfect, and look at the yard, we could fit a pitch and treefort!"
The last room was the master bedroom. It had a sitting area, fireplace, adjorning bathroom complete with shower and tub (that could definitely fit two people) and it was on the west side of the house.
Sam couldn't complain about sunlight in the morning with this place.
"Look at this Draco, there's enough room for all of your ties and haircare products. I approve." Blaise said cheerily.
"It certaintly seems to have everything we need." Draco nodded thinking about his next move.
"Tell me about the neighborhood."
"Well there is a good combination of wealthy Muggles and a fair wizarding population. There's a floo and apparition point two blocks down behind café Nero. You two would certainly add some diversity but really people are very open."
Draco mulled over her thoughts for a second, what does she mean by open?
"There is also a daycare centre in the neighborhood over. It's a lovely French witch who runs it. The little ones probably around the right age and of course for any future children it would be perfect." She said to Blaise
That's when it clicked for Draco, Oh that's what she means
"Oh no we aren't…" Draco tried to explain
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to pressure or insinuate just a possibility for the future, you never know."
Blaise at this point had a grin that could rival the Cheshire cat. "Yes Draco dear you never know in the future, Now please Mrs. Hayze tell me more about the kitchen. Draco loves a good soufflé and we must make sure the oven is up to par."
He lead her back down the stairs. Draco shook his head, Oh for the love of Merlin.
He looked around the room again, the colors were wrong and they would obviously need to get different furniture but he had to say, he could see himself living here. More importantly he saw Samantha and him living here together. Redecorating together. Arguing over who got the bigger office and what to do with the extra rooms.
Teddy already picked out his bedroom Draco thought as he passed by it while going to catch up with the others. He stopped at the open door across from the room Ted picked out. It was fairly small and decorated with light green wallpaper. There was a window seat and twinkle lights on the ceiling. It was a children's room, possibly a nursery. Even as Draco turned towards the stairs he could picture in his minds-eye Samantha standing in the centre of the room over a white wooden cradle with a blonde baby with bright blue eyes in her arms. He saw another picture of a little boy sitting on the floor playing with toys.
He passed a hall window that looked out across the grounds. He could see it now, a Quidditch pitch, him playing with Teddy, Sam watching from the patio with her floppy hat and sunglasses on holding a pitcher of lemonade for them.
Samantha serving you lemonade, that's a little far-fetched even in your daydreams.
He got to the bottom of the stairs where they met back up with Mrs. Hayze and Mrs. Fitz.
"We'll take it."
Author's Note: Hey everyone! So it's been several months since I updated this story. I had been stuck forever and I honestly didn't know if I was ever going to come back to it. But today it hit me and I was finally able to write a chapter (a super long chapter) hopefully now that I have gotten over this hump I'll be able to update regularly and I will be able to give Samantha and Draco the happy ending, or not so happy, drama filled ending they deserve. Thank you so much for staying with me and hopefully this chapter didn't disappoint.
I hope to be updating real soon,
XOXO~IntrepidReporter